Negotiation 101
by SYuuri
Summary: Mirroring, emotional labeling, eye to eye messaging… Sam knows the manual by heart.


**Title: ****Negotiation 101****  
Character: ****Sam****  
Word count: ****761****  
Rating: ****PG-13****  
Genre****: General/humor****  
Prompt: ****#29 -- Negotiation****  
Spoilers: ****Who's George****  
Summary: **** Mirroring, emotional labeling, eye to eye messaging… Sam knows the manual by heart.****  
Disclaimer: ****You know the drill, Sam Braddock is mine. What else is new? *ha-ha* **

**:: Let's say this takes place in season 1, several days after **_**Who's George**_**. Watching Sam practice negotiating with Ed and Lew still cracks me up everytime I watch that ep. **

**:: A drabble written for 'flashpoint_sru' in LJ. Thanks for the prompt. **

**--**

"Come on, Mike, you're still so young, I'm sure you have lots of much more interesting stuff to do," Sam started. Stay c_alm, Braddock, and stand your ground. _

Mike sneered and continued pacing around the room while throwing a black object up in the air before catching it again. "What about _you_? You're still so young, I'm sure –you- have lots and lots and –lots- of much more interesting stuff to do!"

Sam's jaw tightened and he tamped down the urge to go ballistics. _Come on, Sam, you can do this. Find the connection. _"I heard you make your school basketball team. That's great," He chuckled. "Basketball is not my thing. Sometimes I think the ball is playing with me instead of the opposite," The younger boy regarded him with a curious, what-the-heck-are-you-talking-about stare. "Why don't you practice your long shot?"

"Why can't you leave me alone? Why can't anybody mind their own business? Geez. Don't tell me what to do, you're not my father!"

'Who said I wanted to be your father' was already on the very tip of his tongue, but Sam held it back at the last second. _Come on, come on, come on… make Ed one proud momma. Besides, you wouldn't want to be such a complete ass in front of Jules again, right?_ _You've got to be able to listen._ His arms lifted in surrender. "You're right, I'm not your father and I'm not trying to be. I said that just because I knew you love the sport so much,"

"You suck," Mike seethed.

'Why thank you', Sam bitterly thought. He took a tentative step forward, a smile as fake as Pam Anderson's breasts pasted on his face. "Easy, buddy. Why can't we all be friends? Perhaps you could show me your moves someday,"

Mike snorted as though the idea of being friends with Sam was totally absurd. "Yeah, yeah, being friends with you. _Puh-lease_, get real,"

The grandfather clock chimed, the melody breaking the silence and signaling that he was running out of time. The manual was pushed further to the back of his mind and a new set of rules suddenly appeared, merging with the ones he had remembered by heart. Mirroring, _what the heck_!, emotional labeling, _just go there Sam!, _eye to eye messaging, _grab him!,_ patience, _choke him!,_ no threads, _shake some sense into his head!_

_Congrats, Sam, that's one way to make your team proud_, he mused.

"I know that you've had a long day; we all have, but let's keep things down, okay? No need to overreact. Now what would happen if you kept this up? You have another game in a couple of days. Your mom would be there; she's flying in from Texas, isn't she? You don't want to disappoint her," Sam said, digging his memory for more background information. He saw a flicker of hesitation in Mike's hazel eyes. "Yeah, you love your mom, don't you, Mike? She loves you too, and I'm sure she'll want to see you as the top scorer of the game," Another flicker. "So why don't you put that down and everyone will be happy. It's a win-win situation,"

Sam was positive that he had gotten through the boy's thick stubborn skull and a minute away from doing a happy dance when his old man suddenly yelled from upstairs, effectively breaking the magic –he- had created. "Michael James Braddock, get up here and finish your homework!"

"Shit, shit," Mike cursed, knowing full well that his Ben10 night had just been canceled.

"Watch your language, buddy," Sam warned his nine year old nephew. Mike sent him a glare, unwillingly threw the remote control onto the couch before dragging his feet upstairs. Even such a young age he knew that messing up with Colonel Braddock would be a huge mistake.

Dealing with children definitely took more efforts and patience. Grinning, Sam settled down on the sofa, propped his feet up on the table as if he owned the place and turned on the TV. The Canucks was playing this evening and it was a rare opportunity. Being an SRU surely had its disadvantages; missing your favorite hockey team playing for instance. And yes, he definitely considered this as a life and death situation.

The family had gathered in the mansion for the weekend and while Sam would have preferred to stay home, the new 42 inch Plasma TV was definitely better than his second hand TV.

Then again, who would have thought that one could get some negotiation practice at home?

--

**David Paetkau is a huge fan of Vancouver Canucks :)**


End file.
